On the first day of Christmas, our true love gave to us LOVE. I start with love because everything, including life itself starts with love. In John 3:16, possibly the most popular bible verse out there, we are told, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." It starts with love.
On the second day of Christmas, our true love gave to us LIFE. I feel that life is a great place to go after love. Most people start dying the minute they are born. They know that at the end of every life is death and that is their focus. But the more we focus on that, we stop living. You see, each day we need to awaken with a plan to live life to the fullest. As Kirby Puckett told us, "Tomorrow is not promised to anyone."
On the third day of Christmas, our true love gave to us DREAMS. You see, dreams develop our goals. They are two very different things but if we let our goals road map us to our dreams, they are very intertwined; but as long as we remember to let our goals guide us to our dreams, we know that anything is possible. We are told in Luke 1:37, "For nothing will be impossible with God."
On the fourth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us FREEDOM. Yes, in America, we have had others fight for our freedom, but even before that, we are told in John 8:32, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." If we accept Christ, we will have eternal life and be able to live that way. This is one gift that often gets taken advantage of, but if we focus more on the original freedom, things will come together for us.
On the fifth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us GRACE. Grace is what sets us free. We are told in Romans 11:6, "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." Jesus' death on the cross guarantees us the grace we need for eternal life if we accept Him into our lives.
On the sixth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us COURAGE. Joshua 1:9 says, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." I have felt this in my backyard, as well as, half way around the world. As long as we accept Jesus, we can be strong and courageous.
On the seventh day of Christmas, our true love gave to us HOPE. There estimates that there are over three billion people in the world that have never heard the Gospel. They have never had the opportunity to experience walking a day with Jesus. So many take that for granted.. As Charles Spurgeon told us, "There is no hope without Christ."
On the eighth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us WISDOM. Proverbs gives us so many examples of this, that is is often called the Book of Wisdom. Ironically there are 31 chapters in Proverbs, one to read every day. Wisdom gives us the ability to know right from wrong.
On the ninth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us GRATITUDE. Bottom line, we need to be thankful. In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 we are commanded, "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." We are not commanded to give thanks in some or give thanks in the ones we choose, we are told to give thanks in all circumstances. We need to be thankful for the things that are challenging to us because there too, we become stronger.
On the tenth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us JOY. We have to stay positive and have joy in us. Proverbs tells us in 17:22, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Joy is good medicine. Right there we are told about the contagiousness of attitudes. If we can live with a joyful heart, it heals us and those around us.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, our true love gave to us GUIDANCE. If you use the Bible as a workbook for our lives and let God's instructions in the Bible Guide us we can't go wrong. When God makes it clear the path that we are to follow, we need to focus on that and not get distracted to those that re guiding us down a different path.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, our true love gave to us ETERNAL LIFE. It starts with John 3:16, and it ends with John 3:16. Through the cross, we have been given eternal life. Jesus paid our dues for us and we need to follow the path that He has lit for us.
These are the gifts that I give to each of you. We don't need to wait until the 12 days of Christmas to start sharing these. Be the light in others lives and share these gifts with those you see during this holiday season.
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